Lesson #4
Middle East Ministries
Bible Study Notes
taught by John Bell for Roy Schwarcz
Hebrews 1:8-12
V 8-9 - The driving force behind our Messiah, the One who is greater than the angels is His love of righteousness. We understand righteousness to mean "uprightness" describing a person who upholds our common values. In the Bible righteousness is found in the fulfillment of the terms of a covenant with God. Righteousness is absolute faith in and commitment to God (Matt. 3:15; Rom. 4:5; 1 Pet. 2:24). Flowing from that faith a righteous person gives oneself to the doing of God's will, and reckoned righteous by God (Jas. 2:23). In our passage here in Hebrews we learn that God loves righteousness and that He is total righteousness.
Contrasted with God’s love for righteousness is His hatred of lawlessness. Evidently righteousness is rooted in the embracing of His law, for to be righteous is to hate lawlessness. This is best understood I think when we consider Gal 5:14 and understand righteous actions as being filled and walking in the Spirit and lawlessness as being self oriented and walking in the flesh. Because of Jesus’ greater position and love of righteousness He has been anointed above His companions the angels with the oil of gladness. Anointed literally means messiah, this gladness is related to all that He has accomplished and is the fruit of His ministry on our behalf, hence He is above the angels
V 10-12 - Again he moves to another quotation, this time from Psalm 102. Jesus is not only the originator but the sustainer of the universe, the one behind all things, eternally keeping it going until the time that He shall create a new heavens and earth. There is a very interesting thing here, for the scientists among us, The second law of Thermo dynamics, this is the degenerative process observed in the universe. All things will grow old like a garment, but not the one who made them and keeps them, the Son.
© 2005 Middle East Ministries, P.O. Box 340, Marshall, VA 20116 E-mail: info@MiddleEastMinistries.org